Pre-Release software blocking Visual Studio Beta2 installation

The setup for VS Orcas and the .NET Framework 3.5 has a list of pre-release installations that must be removed before installing. When you uninstall beta1 or a CTP, it should removed the components that would block; however in some cases you had more than one product installed or there was some issue or problem on uninstall.

You might see an error message like this — “These pre-release products might include, but are not limited to, the following: – MDSN Library for Visual Studio Orcas – ENU”.

You can look in Add/Remove programs or Programs and Features on Vista and above to remove any of the Orcas pre-release software (most likely beta1).

If you don’t see any, you can use this tool that Aaron Stebner has posted called msiinv.exe which will enumerate your installed programs.